Saturday, June 5, 2010

Of course they're not called game hens because they're so great for pre-game tailgate cookouts, but they could be. I'm not exactly sure when it will happen, but sometime this summer you will reach your grilled chicken limit, and when you do, this simple marinated game hen recipe will be there for you.

The idea here is borrowed from the highly successful Cornell chicken experiments, and uses a similar acid/salt/oil/egg concoction, only this time the part of egg is played by mayo. Needless to say you can season this a million ways, and use any combination of hot chilies, but the little kick the habanero adds is really nice.

You can, and so many of you probably will, use regular old chicken halves for this recipe, but the smaller, sweeter hens are a nice change of pace, and a half of one makes for a perfect picnic-sized portion per person. I hope you give it a try. Enjoy!

Hi Chef John!I’m Maria, an italian girl who is a big disaster in the kitchen,I’m trying to redeem myself from this status and I want to tell you that I learn a lot from your blog, thank you for sharing your talent with us(and sorry for the bad english!)!Maria

Dude can you tell me what the summer savory is for the fried butter beans? I'm English living in France so it is extremely difficult to find out what American ingredients are in French. Ps you rock nd we are always checkin for new videos. The grilled cheese sandwich is the mutts!!!!!

I tried this recipe yesterday (for my 40th birthday) and it was a super success. I used jalapenos and haberneros from my garden. I increased the amount of garlic and also added some Thai smoked chilli powder for some more heat and paprika for color. The marinade smelled really great. I used it on a butterflied young chicken that I grilled pressed down by a cast iron skillet. The end result was delicious chicken that my buddy and I then proceeded to polish off in one sitting :).

Thanks Chef for an awesome recipe that made my birthday special. I actually have a Word document of your recipes that I have tried or want to try and I seem to be adding to it all time. I think you do a terrific job.

Well, heck. Here it is December and I'm watching a video for grilled (baby) chicken. I'm such a geek. But in case Tank is still reading, I smoke all the time recipes that are grill recipes. Just use a thermometer and pull the chicken out when it reaches done temp. Seems like 2.5 to 4 hours for a regular chicken is about right. Never done game birds. Sounds yummy though. I'll bet the smaller birds smoke up well.

This looks like a great marinade. I take a huge pile of grilled chicken legs to community gatherings several times a year. So far the favorite is tandoori style (mine too.) I'm going to try this marinade with the legs. It looks like a yummy treatment for a bit of nosh.

Dear Chef John. THANK YOU for this amazing recipe. tried it last night, it tasted soooo good, my 5yr old fussy eater daughter ate the whole 1/4 chicken. but i used lemon instead of vineger-out of stock. btw, your blog always show ways to cook in the easiest way since i'm from malaysia (western food is not easily taught here)& now it become my top 10 cooking references!

Is this recipe cast iron skillet & oven friendly? I know I won't get the charcoal flavor, but would you recommend trying it for those on the east coast in December? P.S. I love your recipes, I'm baking the Greek Chicken & Potatoes as I type this to you.